Christmas - part 1

I say part one because I haven't got my photos from my sister in law yet and I'm not going to push for them because her Mum died of stomach cancer on Tuesday 30th December.

On December 6, my friend Mel and I went to into the City of Melbourne to sample the Christmas feeling.

After a day of scrapbooking at my house we drove to the city and parked in the carpark in the Eureka Tower which is Melbourne's tallest building. We walked to nearby Crown Casino, taking photos of the sculptures along the Crown Promenade along the way. Once inside the casino we headed to the Palm court where they always have this great tree, all lit up. It's pretty spectacular. Then we walked back to Southgate to a cafe called 'La Camera' and had a beautiful meal. We started with one of the nicest Bruschettas I've ever had. Main course was salmon on a risotto base and pork medallions on a potato pancake with a side salad. We decided to share the meal so gave half to each other. We decided to leave dessert for later in the night.

After leaving La Camera we went to the 89th floor of the Eureka Tower to the observation deck. I'll post those photos separately. Near the bottom of the building is a sculpture of bees clinging to the side and inside a box attached.

After leaving the observation deck we walked across the Yarra (stopping to take photos along the way of course) to Federation Square where they have a gigantic advent calendar on the side of the wall of one of the buildings. At 9pm each night of December they hold a circus-like performance which ends half an hour later with the unveiling of the current date. The performance goes on for 20 mins too long for my taste. It's no wonder children were restless watching it; even I got bored. We decided to walk across the road to buy a spanish donut which Mel said I had to have. I didn't like it but Mel said it wasn't authentic so I might try one again one day.

After that we walked up to City Square to take a photo of their Christmas tree then to the Bourke St Mall to see the Myer Windows. The queue was too long so we decided to have a detailed look but you could see the windows through gaps in the queue. It looked very lively and colourful and the kids seemed to love it.

We ended the day by walking back across the Yarra to find a restaurant at Southgate for dessert. To our suprise, many were closed. We found a French restaurant and had a yummy lemon tart served by an equally yummy French waiter. He was very cute and very easy to understand which isn't always the case.

So that was my night out.